Bad Boys (1995)

In this fast-paced action-comedy, we meet narcotics detectives Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence). Mike is a rich, smooth-talking playboy and Marcus is a frazzled family man, but these lifelong friends are a powerful pair when it comes to getting the job done. The two soon find themselves in over their heads when a new drug kingpin comes into town.

Mike asks his friend Max (Karen Alexander), an informant and an escort, to keep an eye out for any nouveau riche clients who are throwing money all over town, as these could be potential suspects. What should have been an easy job turns tragic and Max’s roommate, Julie (Téa Leoni), becomes a witness and a target.

In the midst of confusion and Julie’s understandable fear, Mike and Marcus are forced to switch places in order to calm and reassure her, leaving Marcus in Mike’s bachelor pad and Mike at home with Marcus’ wife and children. Hilarity ensues as the two search tirelessly to find the criminals while struggling to keep Julie and Marcus’ wife, Theresa (Theresa Randle) from uncovering their ever-expanding pack of lies.

As the partners run around town interrogating narcs, former cops, and parolees while scaring senior citizens and causing obscene amounts of personal and public property damage to the city of Miami, we get a glimpse at the mythical “good cops” who willingly put their lives on their line to protect their communities, as opposed to simply using their authority to abuse others.

With lots of laughs, nonstop action, and thoroughly memorable dialogue, Bad Boyswalks the line of action-comedy flawlessly and still holds the crown for the best American buddy cop film of all time, grossing even more money abroad than it did in the U.S, and remembered fondly by U.S. audiences as Martin’s last great movie.